It’s Chilly-and it’s the Bahamas!
03 January 2014 | Bimini
It was 0615 this morning when the wind shifted. Within 15 minutes we were healed over in 30+ knot gusts and we didn’t even have a sail up!
A quick walk around on the deck let us know that our preparations last night for the forecasted near gale conditions went well. We only missed one thing which was that our 50 watt solar panel was trying to take off like a sheet of plywood in the wind. An extra tie secured it tightly.
After some coffee we made a check of the weather report from BASRA. The Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Association broadcasts the Bahamas weather on 4003 Mhz each morning. Then came the yelling!
No, not at the radio or each other, it was coming from outside. A 70’ish foot power yacht flying a Spanish Ensign called Melody Maker was anchored in the channel. Coming at it was a small island freighter with 4 or 5 containers and other construction equipment. It was headed for the resort at Bimini’s northern end.
It seem that the Spanish Yacht decided to anchor and launch its 20’ RIB Inflatable so crew could come ashore and help the Melody Maker tie up. Nice idea, poorly executed! The freighter belched black smoke as the crew of the yacht brought up the anchor quickly.
The wind and strong tide didn’t help and at one point it appeared the yachts crew was close enough to touch the freighter. With no way to help all we could do was take pictures. Escaping by inches the yacht made its way to a dock and the freighter went on to the resort. We were sure that there were some choice words (or hand signals) communicated during the ordeal.
We later went for an abbreviated walk to look at the surf on the beach. We saw a 60’ ketch bashing it’s way into steep, close high seas desperately trying to making it way north. From there, we assumed, it would turn east and head for Nassau. The same path we will take but we looked at each other and were glad we were not going today. Besides we haven’t seen all of Bimini yet!
Retiring back aboard and putting on sweat pants for the first time in weeks we settled in. A knock on the hull brought greetings from fellow cruisers, Pat & Dave, off Ten Years After. They were bundled up in fleece so we both gave a quick hello and made plans for a sundowner together as the weather warmed.
More Later,
US